Dutch Shepherd Forum

Thank you very much for all the help and advice. His reaction to other dogs is calmed down considerably. Today we passed one dog on our walk that was within two metres of us and he sat, looked at me and ignored the dog for the most part (He whined once.) He is still very anxious if he hasn't spotted one and it comes around the corner in front or behind us. He however isn't as bad as he was, I can now get him to sit and start calming him down even after he gets a fright. We shall continue to work on it

Sure, he is getting surprised by the other dog when it comes around the corner, he isnt ready. He is too young to be taken by surprise. The more you relax he will relax, he looks to you for guidance.

Well done!

Sharon and/or Lisa, your responses have been helpful for me - a good refresher. but can you explain how you start to develop a rock solid eye focus on you [ the eye contact on command and held there ] for a dog that simply is not inclined that way [ as this disinclination in new and frustrating to me, and if i can overcome that, i feel perfection is around the corner; otherwise, i feel everything accomplished is sitting on perilous ground ]. i have tried and tried but not happy with my results, so obviously need some tried-and-true methodology from pros.

Glad we could help you as much as you have helped us with your info.

I hope I can explain this well, as the DS and Mals I have worked with seemed to pick it up well.

I didnt start with saying " Look" and waiting for them to make eye contact, they made eye contact first, then I labeled it " look"

With Sadie, I started with food, I would have her sit, hold her bowl, then look into her eyes, she would be looking at the bowl, or all around [ she is like a gnat] the split second she locked eyes with me, I marked it and put the food bowl down. Every feeding, i did that, Once she picked up that eye contact = food, she got it, it took one day. Then when she made eye contact i would wait a bit longer to put the bowl down. Then I would put the bowl down while maintaining eye contact. If as the bowl was lowering, she broke contact, the bowl would raise again and she would re establish contact and bowl would lower. I repeated that until no matter what I did with the bowl, she had contact and I would make her wait longer until I gave the mark.

Same with the door. She sits, makes contact, slowly open the door, contact breaks, door closes. Door opens, wait for mark, go out.

Once they make contact, you can add the "look " command. Then when they associate the work with eye contact, you can do it on command.

When we are out in town and a dog comes, Ill take them aside, sit " look" I will keep contact until passer by is far away, Mark, Release

Thanks very much for that explanation. Hilde has a very natural "look" contact when we're doing our commands, but I really need to name it and practice it separately. Similar to John, I think having this one down solid will really make all other communication that much stronger.

ok. thank you. i think that is what i have been doing, but probably not with enough nuance, persistence, and perfect timing. [ and maybe a critical error is that i have started with ''eyes'' and then marked success, but the ''success'' is so fleeting.] so i will try to follow your road map with precision. thank you!

Yesterday, I spied a family walking their dog down the road just as Thor got up to the window. (Kids plus a dog = explosion that would create new stars.) I was able to intercept at just that second with "Watch." His conditioned response kicked in and the family and dog walked by without him going supernova.

Some days, you get to change a corner of the universe.

Very off topic, but approximately what age should their ears come up and stay up after teething is finished with? (I ask this as Duke's only managed to get his right ear standing, the left always stays floppy. Since he finished teething he has his right ear up everyday for up to a few hours. The left only for a few seconds and its usually the wind holding it up.)

he is 7 months right? Should be soon, I think Sadies stood at 8 months.